NEW YORK -- Philip Morris Cos. said fourth-quarter net income was more than six times as high as a year earlier, when profits were squeezed by a one-time charge related to the 1998 tobacco settlement.

The maker of Marlboro cigarettes, Kraft cheese and Miller beer said that, without charges, asset write-downs and a Y2K-related sales bubble, "underlying" profit in the quarter rose 2.7%, despite a shrinking U.S. cigarette...